Silver halide elements are usually subjected to some type of photographic processing after exposure in order to form images suitable for viewing. The processing generally involves contacting the element with a developer solution to cause formation of a silver image corresponding to a latent image formed on the silver halide during exposure, and then with a fixing solution to solubilize and remove silver halide that was not converted to silver during development. Any of a number of other known processing solutions may also be used, such as stop baths to halt image development, bleach solutions to remove already formed silver from the element, and a number of other known solutions (e.g., stabilizer baths, hardener solutions, wash baths, and the like).
The silver halide that is used in photographic elements is usually inherently sensitive only to blue light. It is therefore often desirable, in order to provide sensitivity to light of other regions of the spectrum or to enhance the sensitivity to blue light, to spectrally sensitize the silver halide by adsorbing a sensitizing dye to the silver halide, thus imparting to the silver halide sensitivity to the wavelength of light absorbed by the dye.
When photographic elements having spectrally sensitized silver halide are processed, the sensitizing dye can come out of the element and enter one or more of the processing solutions. Indeed, it is usually desirable to remove (usually in the fixing bath) the sensitizing dye from the element during processing so as to minimize adverse effects on image quality that can occur as a result of sensitizing dye remaining in the element after processing.
It has now been found, however, that certain problems are encountered in situations where a large amount of sensitizing dye is present in a photographic element (on the order of 0.3 mg/ft.sup.2), or when the rate of replenishment of the processing solution(s) is low, or both. Large amounts of sensitizing dye may be present because of the particular sensitization of silver halide that is desired, or simply because an element contains a large amount of silver halide. In such situations, the sensitizing dye, instead of coming out of the element and dissolving in a processing solution, is removed from the element, but is not fully solubilized in the processing solution and forms solid particles. These particles can have a number of adverse effects. They can adhere to the surface of the element, forming visible specks or blotches on the image. They can also adhere to processing equipment, impeding flow or mixing of processing solutions, and necessitating costly and time-consuming cleaning procedures.